Impact of Meal Ticketing on Students’ Academic Performance and Well-Being in Havilla University, Nde-Ikom, Cross River State

This research utilizes primary data obtained from weekly sales meal tickets from HUNI cafeteria, students hospital bills, and GPA/CGPA (1st and 2nd semesters) covering a period of twelve months (9/11/2021 to 20/08/2022). Chi-square estimation, showed a significant relationship between the incidence of ill-health and feeding regime, [χ^cal (434.98)>χ_(0.05,9)^(tab.) (16.919)] with a p-value=0.0000. This implied that meal ticketing, students’ academic performance and well-being are inter-dependent. The linear correlation is strongly/positively correlated (i.e., 1). Also, male students between the age bracket of 17 to 18 years were more prone to ill-health between first and second semesters when compared to the female students. This means that in the first semester (without a feeding regime) ill-health cases were higher than those recorded for the second semester (when feeding a regime was introduced). Hence, the analysis recommended that HUNI should encourage and continue with its meal ticketing policy to enhance students’ academic performance and well-being. Also, government should be encouraged in the light of the above to institute a meal ticketing policy in tertiary institutions. Keywords: Chi-square, Correlation, Academic performance, Meal ticketing